By Joseph Masha

Kilifi, Kenya: Thousands of squatters who were allocated land in Kilifi have not collected 20,000 land title deeds due to poverty and ignorance.

Land officials in the county have disclosed that many residents cannot afford to pay money levied on the documents or are not aware that the documents are being issued.

And failure to collect the documents has complicated the land crisis in the area since some beneficiaries of land allocation sell their property to third parties before collecting the titles.

Consequently, yearly levies on uncollected land titles accumulate to a point they cannot afford to pay. The Standard has learnt that most of the titles at the Kilifi land registry have not been collected for up to seven years.

Kilifi District lands and settlement officer Felix Kiteto said 20,000 titles are yet to be collected, years after they were issued and attributed the problem to ignorance and poverty among the beneficiaries of land allocation.

“Lack of information and poverty among the people allocated land should be blamed for the non-collection of title deeds lying at our lands registry,” said Mr Kiteto in Kilifi yesterday.

Two categories

And a deputy lands registrar at the Kilifi lands office Mbau Thaura told The Standard that many titles had been at the office for over seven years. Thaura said there were two categories of uncollected titles — those prepared for squatters under presidential decree and those from established settlement schemes.

According to Kiteto, beneficiaries of up to 12 acres of land from a Government established settlement scheme are required to pay Sh5,650 while allocations for other categories are charged Sh2,500 per acre, which accumulates with time if uncollected.

“Although the Government is committed to identifying land to settle the landless people as a long-term plan to address the squatter issue facing many residents in Kilifi County, most of those who get allocated the land and are issued with title deeds fail to collect them,” said Kiteto.

He disclosed that in recent years the State had about 70 adjudicated land parcels, including those from the Government established settlement schemes to benefit the landless. He said most of the adjudication work on the parcels of land had been completed and title deeds prepared for the beneficiaries.

Private developers

“The most shocking issue is that some squatters in Kilifi have had a tendency of selling off land allocated to them by the Government to private developers even before getting issued with title deeds,” noted Kiteto.

On Saturday, National Land Commission chairman Mohamed Swazuri said failure to collect titles had complicated the land problem in Coast Province because it reinforced a perception that residents had not recognised the value of land.

Dr Swazuri said his commission would ensure the landless get land and title deeds. The chairman urged Governors in Coast region to embark on programmes to educate locals on the importance of land and follow the correct procedures to get title deeds.

He said the Government would not succeed in its efforts to address the squatters’ problem in the region if people remained stuck in ignorance.

Swazuri said titles would foster residents’ legal claim to land and also enable them acquire loans from banks.